Lying In Loving Arms
by xJanzx
Summary: This is the sequel to "Follow You Into The Dark". Jack is alone with Ronnie and his thoughts - how will their story end?
1. Chapter 1

**Lying In Loving Arms**

Jack sat on the floor of the club office, his knees bent and his arms lain across them. His back was stiff against the now cold radiator, the grooves of the metal digging into his skin. He could've moved, couldn't sat so much more comfortably on the huge leather chair behind his desk. But he didn't. He stayed on the floor, uncomfortable and in pain. He welcomed it.

Jack lifted his head, no longer staring into the floor, but finally resting on the person he wished he could take into his arms and just . . . hold. His heart constricted in agony, flailing in pain and wishing to be ripped from his chest. "What have I done to her?" He mumbled to himself. He wanted to drag his eyes away, to not have to see her anymore, to not have to face up to the guilt that was almost suffocating him, but he couldn't. He couldn't stop looking at her. Instead, he just stared; drinking in every contour of her face, every rise and fall of her chest.

His entire body ached to be closer to her, even just a few metres. Jack could feel himself moving, but he curled his hands around the feet of the radiator. He wouldn't go any nearer. "I can't, I'll just keep hurting her."

His mind battled with his yearning heart. Closing his eyes, Jack conjured up the image of the heartbreak in Ronnie's eyes when she had caught Tanya in his flat earlier that day. Her expression was one of shock, her voice had become cold but only her eyes gave away her true emotions. Jack sucked in a shallow breath, the turmoil of that one look winding its way around his chest until he had difficulty breathing.

With his eyes tightly closed, another image washed across the dark canvass. A memory of another time he had hurt her. _Later never._ Those were the two words she had spoken. A question that had fallen from her lips so easily, but he knew what strength it had taken for her to say them. And whilst Ronnie had been strong, he had been pathetic and weak – he couldn't even answer her. So he said nothing and walked away. Leaving Ronnie to pick up the pieces of her broken heart.

"I've never deserved you, Ron," Jack whispered into the stifling silence. "Not even in the beginning, before either of us knew each other." He let out a soft sigh, unclenching his hands and bringing them up to his face.

"You took my breath away – and that weren't just the water splashing in me face." Jack's lips curved into a half smile at the memory. "There was something about you that I couldn't quite figure out, something beneath the surface and that day with Damien; I saw a little of it. But as soon as I'd glimpsed it, it was gone – the walls back up again."

Without realising, until it was too late, what he was doing Jack had gotten up from the floor and knelt by Ronnie's side. He heard his knee click as he crouched down. "That's me, gettin' old," he joked, the fingers of his right hand pushing Ronnie's fringe from her damp forehead.

Ronnie's body responded to his touch and her eyelids fluttered open for a second, like butterflies spreading their wings in a shaft of warm sunlight. Jack instantly froze. "You're here," Ronnie murmured, her voice thick with fatigue. She slowly blinked, her eyelids heavy, before shutting them once again. "I miss you." Her hand came up and gently caressed Jack's smooth cheek with the back of her fingers. "Why did you stop loving me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Jack's breath caught in his throat and his heart ceased beating for a moment. Ronnie's hand stayed against his cheek for a second longer before slipping back down to her side. Jack watched her face carefully, her eyes once again shut, before he let go of the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

Jack looked at her, as peaceful as anything in that moment and he wished she could stay like that forever. Tentatively, his hand reached out and touched her forehead, his fingertips running along the edge of her face before settling on the curve of Ronnie's lips. She stirred slightly, but didn't wake up, her slumber too deep for his caresses to disturb.

And what if she had woken up? What would have been his explanation? _I miss you too? I miss you so much my chest aches and every second I don't see you, I want to know where you are and when I __**can**__ see you? And this last month has been torture? That I tried to forget you, that I tried so hard to let you go, forced myself to love someone else as much as I love you, but nothing compared? Is that what I'm going to say?_

Jack shook his head, but didn't withdraw his hand. He couldn't, not just yet.

"Ron, I didn't-" His words were cut short by the sound of his phone vibrating in his trouser pocket. Hastily, he pulled it out, fumbling with it so he could see who was calling. _Tanya_ flashed on the screen and without a beat of hesitation, Jack silenced the call.

He held the mobile in his hands for a moment longer, before gently placing it on the floor beside him. "Surely that's not normal?" He said, his voice soft and low. Jack lifted his right hand once again and trailed it across Ronnie's blonde hair. "Not wanting to talk to the woman I'm involved with, but spend the time watching another woman sleep?" Jack sighed. "Not normal at all." He paused for a moment, a weight pressing down on his chest. "But I know why that is. I know and you, you never can, Ronnie. You can never find out because it will break your heart, and I can't, I can't do that to you."

A shudder rippled through Jack's body as the thought of Ronnie learning the truth choked the breath from his body. _She can never know what I did. She can never find out that I slept with Roxy. It'll break her and she'll never trust me, or Roxy, again. So this is better. We can deal with being apart if she thinks that it was just the end of the road for us, that our time was up. It's better this way. She won't hurt so much. She'll never know about me and Roxy . . . or how much I love her. _

"I've hurt you so much already, Ronnie – I won't take your sister from you."

Absently, Jack traced small circles with the tips of his fingers on Ronnie's head, remembering how doing just that used to relax her so much. She was always so tense, so guarded, but every once in a while, he was able to see a flicker of vulnerability, of the woman she truly was behind the impenetrable wall.

"I liked you from the moment I saw you, y'know that? Even if you did splash me with your drink. But then, you'd say I'd deserved it, wouldn't you? . . . And then at Christmas," he let out a soft wisp of breath at the memory. "That was when it happened, sweetheart – that was the moment, I well and truly fell for you. And every moment since, I've kept falling. So, you see, I never stopped loving you."

Jack bent his head, his lips grazing Ronnie's. "I never stopped loving you," he murmured, his words vibrating against her porcelain skin.

"I still love you," Ronnie whispered, her voice thick and groggy. Jack pulled away, but she grabbed his arm. "No, don't!" She exclaimed softly. "Don't go away again, don't leave me again. Just . . . just kiss me, Jack."

Jack froze, unsure of what to do. Ronnie's eyes were open and she was looking up at him. "Please, Jack, kiss me." Agonisingly slowly, his lips returned to hers. Their mouths locked in a battle that neither of them cared about winning. Their bodies were on fire, ravished by the longing and yearning that had engulfed them for the last month.

Ronnie's hands ran through Jack's chocolate brown hair before dropping to his waist where she untucked his shirt, her fingers frantically searching for his belt buckle. "Ron, Ron, wait. Stop, wait." Jack urged her, his mouth still glued to hers. "You're not thinking straight-"

"I am," Ronnie insisted, peppering butterfly kisses across Jack's jaw. "I love you, Jack and I want you to make love to me. And you love me too, so what's stopping us?" Her blue eyes looked imploringly into Jack's, searching for signs of doubt.

"Nothing," Jack whispered.

Their mouths came together in a fervent kiss, the passion love emanating from them both. The fire of their love burning within them both, melting away any doubt or uncertainties that had once skulked in their minds. With that kiss, Jack could feel their love pulsing through them both. It was alive, and nothing could smother it, nobody could extinguish it. It would burn within them for eternity.

"Make love to me, Jack."

**THE END**


End file.
